Ben Stokes had raised the ball into the Old Trafford sky and now he raised the bat. Two celebrations, two days apart, two signs of an all-rounder back at the top of his trade. Stokes had done much in his first 114 Tests, some of it utterly implausible, but never the all-rounder’s double in the same match. And then, when there had been reasons to fear his powers were fading or his body failing, he did both.
Five wickets in an innings. A century. He became just the fourth Englishman to achieve both in the same Test after Tony Greig, Ian Botham and, rather improbably, Gus Atkinson. Stokes has never felt consumed by statistics but, as Joe Root showed the day before, they can be the byproduct of brilliance, especially in a sport with as many numbers as cricket.
And yet it is a safe assumption Stokes knew his wait for a hundred dated back two years, to his magnificent, defiant 155 at Lord’s in the 2023 Ashes. He made 80 in the following Test and had not gone further since. Until he walked off at Old Trafford with 141 in an innings that was cathartic and then destructive.
The celebration with a crooked finger, a tribute to his late father, Ged, may have meant still more after 35 innings without a hundred. The ovation when Stokes was caught at long on, looking for his fourth six, showed the Manchester public’s appreciation of a player who, suddenly, looks in his prime again.
There was a point where he was barely bowling and scoring fewer runs. Stokes was never built to be a bits-and-pieces cricketer, a kind of English Shardul Thakur (who, having made a decent 41, albeit 100 short of Stokes’ score, bowled just 11 of 157.1 overs, going at fives).
This summer had marked the resurgence of Stokes the bowler but there had been slight returns with the bat. There was a theory Jamie Smith should come in ahead of him. But Stokes looked bloody-minded as he chiselled out 77 runs in two knocks in the third Test. He ended up powering to 141 in the fourth.
A ticket to Old Trafford on Saturday came with the possibility of seeing Stokes’ second milestone of the match. The captain had retired with cramp on 66 on Friday, resumed and reached 77 by the close. He was almost run out in the first over of the day, Anshul Kamboj hitting the stumps, but the leg that had cramped up just got him in. There was a glorious cover drive off Mohammed Siraj to reach 88, a ball from Jasprit Bumrah that zipped past his outside edge on 99. Like Joe Root the day before, he brought up his century with a leg glance. It was the third time these friends and long-time teammates had reached three figures in the same innings.
Root simply carried on. Stokes looked liberated by a landmark, the man who had ground out runs at Lord’s, even at the start at Old Trafford, going for the extravagant. Washington Sundar was reverse-swept for four, Ravindra Jadeja twice powered down the ground for six. The demonstration of improvisation and power came with a purpose, extending England’s lead as far as possible as fast as possible.
They ended 311 ahead after making the highest Test score at Old Trafford; the Australia captain Bob Simpson had made 311 in their 656-8 in 1964. Australians have found themselves passed by a couple of Englishmen in the last two days. After Root went past Ricky Ponting to become the second highest Test runscorer, Stokes went beyond Don Bradman, if not quite at the same average.
He became the 13th Englishman to make 7,000 Test runs. Of the first 12, Alec Stewart had to keep wicket for much of his career and Root and Walter Hammond got useful wickets. None has bowled to the same extent as Stokes.
It is why his peers are men such as Andrew Flintoff, Trevor Bailey, Greig and Botham. Stokes’ 14th Test hundred put him level with Botham, who made the most of any England all-rounder. And, more than he has been for quite some time, Stokes is a genuine all-rounder again.
